Clients sending email via gmail

[kwdamp]

So, recently I've discovered that some of my clients prefer to setup their gmail with their POP email accounts from our dedicated servers. This is fine, and works great except the emails fail SPF checks and are all ending up in spam.

It appears google wants hosts to add their google domain to SPF records: ( include:_spf.google.com -all )

The process is vaguely outlined here: Define your SPF record—Basic setup - Google Workspace Admin Help
It only specifically mentions Google Workspace clients, but I believe that record is for all google mail senders.

Anyways, I have a couple of questions for anyone who has been down this path:

Is my syntax correct, to just add that to all related domains SPF records?​

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Is there any downside to this? Do other mail services have issue handling the two records?​

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Will SPF alone be sufficient to avoid spam? Or do I also need to add google as a possible sender in DKIM records?​

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! That syntax looks good according to those Google docs. Just change the "-" to "~"
This is a standard mail feature so mailservers won't complain. It's common to list two IP addresses in the SPF configuration line, or more, to add valid senders.
I'm not sure there's ever such a thing as "sufficient" when it comes to email avoiding spam. It used to be just SPF, then DKIM, and now there's DMARC records. The only way to know for sure is to send your message and see how it behaves and then deal with the issues as you run into them with various providers.